408 



Creagurg at Datura! 



But it is seldom, except in cases of the 

 highest delight or the deepest distress, that 

 the mind has power thus to disengage itself 

 from the empire of fancy : in the common 

 course of its operations, it submits to those 

 numerous fantastic images which succeed 

 each other, and which, like many of our 

 waking thoughts, are generally forgotten. 

 There are others on whom dreams appear to 

 have a very different effect; and who, without 

 seeming to remember their impressions the 

 succeeding morning, have yet evidenced, by 

 their actions during sleep, that they were very 

 powerfully impelled by their dominion; per- 

 forming many of the ordinary duties to which 

 they have been accustomed when awake ; 

 and, with a ridiculous industry, completing 

 by night what they had failed to accomplish 

 by day. Numerous instances might indeed 

 be cited to show that the imagination is 

 equally active by night as by day, and that 

 it often involuntarily intrudes where it is 

 least commanded or desired. While awake, 

 and in health, this busy principle cannot 

 much deceive us : it may raise a thousand 

 phantoms before us, build schemes of hap- 

 piness, or shudder at ideal misery ; but the 

 senses are all alive and sound to evince its 

 falsity. Our eyes show us that the prospect 

 is not present : our hearing and our touch 

 depose against its reality ; and our taste 

 and smelling are equally vigilant in de- 

 tecting the imposition. Reason, therefore, 

 at once determines on the cause ; and the 

 fleeting intruder, Imagination, is restrained 

 or banished from the mind. But it is other- 

 wise in sleep : the senses being as much as 

 possible at rest, having lost their peculiar 

 functions, the imagination is then left to 

 riot at large, and to lead the understanding 

 captive. Every incursive idea then becomes 

 a reality ; and the mind, being destitute of 

 every power that can correct the illusion, 

 receives them for truths. 



But we fear we have trespassed too long 

 on this part of our subject ; we therefore 

 hasten from the consideration of what may 

 be thought ideal and imaginary, to that 

 which is actual and manifest. Every object 

 in nature has its improvement and decay. 

 The human form no sooner arrives at ma- 

 turity, than it instantly begins to decline. 

 The "waste is at first insensible, and fre- 

 quently several years revolve before we per- 

 ceive any considerable alteration : but we 

 ought to feel the weight of our years better 

 than their number can be estimated by 

 strangers ; and as those are seldom deceived 

 who judge of our age by external signs, we 

 might be more sensible of the truth, were we 

 more attentive to our feelings, and did not 

 suffer ourselves to be deceived by vanity and 

 fallacious hopes. When the body has ac- 

 quired its full stature, and is extended to 

 its just dimensions, it begins to increase in 

 thickness ; and this augmentation is the 

 first step towards a decay, being merely an 

 addition of superfluous matter, which in- 

 flates the body, and loads it with an useless 

 weight : this matter, which is denominated 

 fai, about the age of thirty-five or forty, 

 begins to cover the muscles and interrupt 

 their activity : every action then requires a 



greater exertion to perform it ; and the in- 

 crease of size is at the expense of ease, ac- 

 tivity, and strength. The bones also be- 

 come every day more solid. In the embryo 

 they are almost as soft as the muscles and 

 the flesh ; by degrees they harden and ac- 

 quire their natural vigour ; but the circula- 

 tion is still carried on through them ; and 

 how hard soever the bones may seem, the 

 blood holds its current through them, as 

 through all other parts of the body. Like 

 the softer parts, they are furnished, through 

 all their substance, with their proper canals, 

 although in the different stages of existence 

 they are of very different capacities. In 

 infancy they are capacious, and the blood 

 flows through the bones with almost the 

 same facility as through the other channels. 

 In manhood their size is greatly diminished ; 

 the vessels are almost imperceptible, and the 

 circulation through them is proportionably 

 slow. But in the decline of life, the blood 

 which meanders through the bones no longer 

 contributing to their growth, of necessity 

 tends to increase their rigidity. In pro- 

 portion as we advance in years, the bones, 

 the cartilages, the membranes, the flesh, 

 the skin, and every libre of the body, be- 

 come more solid, hard, and dry : every part 

 shrinks, every motion becomes more slow ; 

 the circulation of the fluids is performed with 

 less freedom ; perspiration diminishes ; the 

 secretions alter ; the digestion becomes slow 

 and laborious ; and the juices no longer 

 serving to convey their accustomed nutri- 

 ment, those parts may be said to live no 

 longer when the circulation ceases. Thus 

 the body dies by little and little ; all its 

 functions are weakened by degrees ; life is 

 driven from one part of the frame to another ; 

 universal rigidity prevails ; and death at 

 last closes tlie scene. When the natural 

 stamina are good, life may perhaps be pro- 

 longed for a few years, by moderating the 

 passions, by temperance, and by abstemious- 

 ness : but no human art can prolong the 

 period of life to any considerable extent. 

 It is apparent, indeed, that the duration of 

 life has no absolute dependence either on 

 manners, customs, or the qualities of par- 

 ticular food: much, it is true, is to be as- 

 cribed to the quality of the air ; but we may 

 rely upon it that, if luxury and intem- 

 perance be excepted, nothing can alter those 

 laws of mechanism which regulate the num- 

 ber of our years. 



Well may it be said, that Man is a com- 

 pound being the link between spiritual 

 and animal existence ; partaking of both 

 their natures, but having also something 

 peculiar to himself. His intellectual facul- 

 ties prove his alliance to a superior class of 

 beings : his sensual appetites and passions 

 show his affinity to the brute creation. 



We cannot close this article without re- 

 ferring to Dr. Prichard's admirable Re- 

 searches into the Physical History of Man, 

 a work which, although we have not here 

 quoted it, we recommend to the attention of 

 pur readers as one which discusses a most 

 important subject with consummate ability, 



MANAKIN. [See PARDALOTUS.] 



